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Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Phones nowadays are more than just phones. They are our lives at the palm of our hand. Our contacts, our entertainment, our memories - all captured and stored in one device. It's no wonder that phone brands are constantly improving their products to keep up with the era of selfies, instagram shots and daily vlogging.

Following the introduction of the iPhone 8 and X as well as Samsung Galaxy Note 8, Huawei today launched the all new quad-camera Nova 2i, the latest member of the Nova 2 series. The event also introduced Hannah Delisha as nova 2i's ambassador at the event held at Ryi and Lynn, Bangsar.

Friday, September 22, 2017

Being a true Malaysian, food remains an integral part of my daily life. Just ask my colleagues and family. I'll be the one running around the office at 12noon sharp asking the all important question...

"What to eat ar?"

Of course, being the lazy bum that I am, I end up eating around the office area most of the time or bringing food from home simply because traffic jams, looking for parking and queuing/hunting for table scares me. I am sure many of you can relate.

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Flying to Europe on a grand adventure is the dream for many. Just imagine landing in romantic Paris and having a whirling journey through the countryside until you end up somewhere in Moscow. Just a dream, you say?

Well...

Not anymore because from 19 to 29 September 2017, KLM will offer Dream Deals for air tickets from Kuala Lumpur to selected European and American destinations. Promotional fares are valid for travel from 01 November 2017 to 30 June 2018.

Friday, September 15, 2017

Set to premiere on Tuesday, 19th September at 10pm (MY/SIN/HK) with back to back episodes, the all-new Life Inspired Original Series- Japan Authentic, a 2 part series follows Erwan Heussaff as he explores the road less travelled in cities such as Iiyama, Hida, Noto, Sasayama, Ine and Tanabe, where local produce are at its freshest and the people are most welcoming.

In the series, Erwan, who is also a lifestyle video creator and culinary enthusiast, meets up with some locals along the way to truly experience a side of Japan not many may know off. From activities like jungle trekking through the Shin-etsu Forest, mountain boarding at Madarao Kogen Ski Resort, experiencing a Kiriko Festival or tasting the fresh local produce straight from the farm, the series aims to open a different chapter from the book of Japan.

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Let's face. Malaysians do love their local flavours. Case in point - Nasi Lemak, cendol, salted egg yolk and durian.

In conjunction with Hari Malaysia, CoolBlog Malaysia has launched Rasa Rasa Malaysia, its new range of colourful flavours catered to Malaysian taste buds. The new drinks were unveiled in conjunction with the celebration of Merdeka and Malaysia Day, incorporating flavours that are distinctly Malaysian and derived from local desserts.

Sunday, September 10, 2017

Another round of Viper Arena and what a fun round it was. 6km, 15 obstacles all within the vicinity of Shah Alam Stadium which just not too long ago, was a Sea Games venue. And once again Team Huh now upgraded to Team Fuh made an appearance, all decked out in red now.

Here's a video compilation of our fun night out.

Video captured and edited with iPhone SE using VivaVideo and Splice app. To read my other write ups on Viper Arena:

Saturday, September 9, 2017

AirAsia yesterday unveiled the world’s first Freedom Flyer Programme aimed at making it easier, faster and better for loyal guests to earn AirAsia BIG Points. The overhauled loyalty programme, powered by AirAsia BIG Loyalty, is based on a unique membership status system determined by how often guests fly - the more guests fly with AirAsia, the faster they will earn BIG Points, regardless of how much they spend on fares.

The four-status system starts with Red status for guests who fly 13 or fewer one-way short-haul flights in the preceding 12 months, through to Gold and Platinum, and all the way up to Black for those who fly 50 or more times with AirAsia.

Friday, September 8, 2017

When it comes to good food, Japan has plenty, possibly due to the attention to detail and care the locals put into the preparation. But more often than not, good award-winning food is often associated with expensive.

Not at Nakajima. Located in an obscure road/alley in Shinjuku, this unsuspecting basement restaurant is the winner of one Michelin star for one simple ingredient. Sardines.

Sunday, September 3, 2017

I am officially 30 years old. I am officially in my 30s now. I am..still mentally in my 20s so basically nothing has changed.

Except achieving one of my dream of spending my birthday in Japan. Like any true Japan-fan, a birthday getaway to the Land of the Rising Sun was the goal and on my 30th birthday, I was in Japan at the top of Mouth Fuji.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me start with the first town we visited upon arrival in Japan during our trip on 1-9 July (summer season). Kamakura was beautiful, peaceful even except on weekends when it's becomes the ideal beach getaway destination for visitors from Tokyo. I booked our two night stay at Webase Hostel Kamakura, near Yuigahama beach and two train stops away from Kamakura station.

Thursday, August 10, 2017

So just to quickly make sure everyone is on the same page on what I will be talking about - Spartan Race Malaysia was supposed to have its Spartan Beast on 8 October at a tbc location in Kuala Lumpur. The key details here being: 8 October and Kuala Lumpur.

This has been promoted and pushed in their offers, partnerships and promotional materials including the APAC poster.

And then...two months before the race, we learnt that Spartan Race had decided to move the date to 9 December and the venue to Johor Bahru still at an undetermined address. It will be a three race-event consisting of an Ultra-Beast, Beast and Sprint now and is also part of the Singapore Beast leg (well, seeing as they have literally no room for a Beast on that island...)

Monday, August 7, 2017

Okay, this is me riding on the craze that is the Nasi Lemak burger fisco because I managed to get a bite of the famed Nasi Lemak Ayam Rendang (NLAR) burger from burger experts, MyBurgerLab just yesterday.

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

After a comfortable 7 hour flight and a one night stay at First Cabin Haneda airport (a comfortable capsule-concept hotel which I blogged about before), I was ready to head down to Kamakura. I had booked my group near Yuigahama beach at a rather new hostel, WeBase Hostel. Upon arriving it was clear that the better term should be postel.

source: tripadvisor

Kamakura was a popular seaside destination for international AND local tourists with Enoshima Island within easy access. Yuigahama on the other hand was blissfully void of people and WeBase was the ideal base for us to start our adventures in Kamakura.

Saturday, July 22, 2017

Viper Genting once again has proven itself to the OCR event for the highlands with a cooling weather, an instant uphill stretch to get the heart pumping and a repertoire of old and new obstacles to keep things interesting for any OCR junkie out there.

The first obstacle was dragging myself out of my warm comfortable bed at 430am on Saturday, the day of the event. It had started to drizzle outside and I immediately dreaded running Viper Genting in the rain. Cold plus rain equals a miserable me.

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Okay, so things have been a bit quiet on the blog. Work has been 'bitch be cray cray' crazy. I have picked up my creative writing once to deal with the stress hence the lack of updates here. Sorry about that.

Thursday, June 8, 2017

This festive season, indulge in a grand and lavish dinner buffet featuring the best of authentic Malaysian and international cuisine at Lemon Garden, Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur between 7pm to 10.30 from 27 May to 24 June 2017. The culinary team at Lemon Garden has carefully put together a wondrous buffet menu which infuses rich Malaysian flavours to its wide spread of specialities.

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Another obstacle race is entering the Malaysia OCR scene with an exciting line-up of four different terrain races for OCR junkies to participate it. Established for their Zumba and running events, SCORE now ventures into the obstacle racing field with SCORE Warzone, a four series OCR events that kicks off on 18 November.

Friday, June 2, 2017

As a writer, I always felt that there was something personal about writing down my thoughts. As a photographer, being able to hold my photos in my fingers seems to bring the images to life. It's almost as though you are imparting a part of yourself into ink when you write or print out these thoughts and memories.

While Instagram and Facebook do have their appeal when it comes to sharing photos, there is nothing quite like printing out your photos and pinning them up over your desk. Thanks to modern tech and a little niffy app called Droprint, you can have your photos selected, printed on nice glossy photo papers or as a memorabilia photobook and delivered to you.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Say Penang and the first response you will probably get from any local would be "FOOD!".

Now ask any OCR junkie from Penang and they would tell you it was the venue of Viper Challenge's second event of the year on 25 March after Viper Singapore in February. In short, it was the perfect state for any true food loving, OCR addicted Malaysian to head off to for a weekend getaway up North.

Our planning included two things: eating and Viper Challenge Arena. And after a day of binge eating all over Penang, my team was gearing to go as we gathered at Batu Kawan Stadium on the mainland part of Penang. Compared to the crackled, lackluster walls of Shah Alam Stadium (the other venue for the Viper Arena series), Batu Kawan Stadium looked amazing especially when the sun went down and the lights and fireworks came on. It wasn't as big as Shah Alam Stadium although this resulted in a course that amounted to 5km of stairs, ramp-running, obstacles, tarmac and obstacles.

21 May 2017 was a huge day for Dirigo event, owner and organiser of Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Marathon with almost 36,000 runners flocking to Dataran Merdeka to take part in the Standard Chartered KL Marathon.

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Ramadhan is but a week away. Oh my, where did the time go? Before you know it, it's time for Raya and that means prepping gifts and hampers for all those fun open houses and company makan-makan with clients. Bestnye.....

So instead of waiting until the last minute to place your order, why not plan ahead and pick one of two Hari Raya hampers offered by Lemon Garden 2Go at Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur?

Monday, May 15, 2017

For the third year in a row, I ran the Milo Breakfast Day Run. Getting a bib for this run was like scoring the lottery. All 15,000 slots were snapped up in less than 24 hours. Luckily for me (maybe not), I was staying back late for work in the office when the registration opened up and managed to register 16 of my colleagues and their plus ones.

Fast forward to a month later and it was race day on 14 May at Anjung Floria, Putrajaya. Flag off was scheduled for 7am and at 645am, none of my colleagues were in sight....save for one. My colleagues has officially taken Malaysian timing to a whole new level.

Thursday, May 11, 2017

To cut down on travelling time in the morning (thus having more time to sleep in), I stayed overnight at the race site at the Semenyih Eco Resort and was rewarded with a glimpse of the start and finish of the course. Only a glimpse because that was only 10% of the total course of 9km and 25 obstacles that greeted racers on the morning itself.

For the first time in my four years of running the Spartan Races, I participated in the elite category simply out of curiosity to see what it was like to be held at a higher standard in the lead pack and to be chased by the competitive racers in the heat after In short, not fun. The race was close to stressful with barely enough time to catch a breather right from the start.

Friday, May 5, 2017

The little township of Medini, in Iskandar Puteri, Johor came alive recently when it hosted the Sunway Iskandar Viper Challenge for a second straight year, with 9000 participants, almost 2,400 of which are from Singapore. In an effort to challenge the physical and mental fitness of the competitors, this Viper Challenge series covered a distance of 15km with 18 obstacles.

Competitors were up with the sun as registration began at 5.30am. They then made their way through the first flag-off precisely at 7am. The participants that came from all over Malaysia and the regions were flagged-off in waves 30 minutes apart with the last batch at 11am.

The Medini leg was the second of five Viper Challenge series in Malaysia. The first edition was held in Penang just last month.

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

The quintessential Japanese haute cuisine, Kyoto Kaiseki will be served at Zipangu, Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur from 1 May to 30 June 2017. Kaiseki is a multi-course cuisine which epitomizes the refined Japanese culinary tradition. It is a meal of small, exquisite dishes prepared and presented with great detail and elegance.

Sunday, April 30, 2017

With Standard Chartered KL Marathon (SCKLM) 2017 just around the corner, it was no surprise that the topic of the runners to look out for became the subject of breakfast conversation for my bootcamp mates and I.

Saturday, April 29, 2017

The Lemon Garden restaurant in Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur has always boasted one of the best buffet spreads in the city with a wide array of international and local cuisines. But the years has worn out the interior of the restaurant and seeing that, Shangri-La KL decided in Nov 2016 to have its signature restaurant refurbished and renovated to a dining venue befitting of its name and its guests and customers.

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Race day. The D-Day. The Tokyo Marathon. My second marathon and first Abbott World Major. Perhaps my only World Major.

One of the perks of racing in Japan was the flag off time at 9:10am unlike Malaysia's ungodly hours to beat the heat. This meant I could sleep a little. But my internal body clock had me blinking awake at 6am. I got dressed, did some last minute check of my running gears and by 7am was out the door.

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Participants of Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Full Marathon 2017 may know one of the 6:00 hours pacer as Choi Chik Choy. The running community however knows him better known as Choi, a semi-retiree who provides runners with their running, hiking and triathlon needs. Heck, even my mum and I turn to him for our OCR and trail run needs.

1. How long have you been running?
I have been running since I was around 22-23 years old. After I got married, I took a break for about 2-3 years before rekindling my passion for running. All in all, I probably have been running for almost 25 years.

Thursday, April 6, 2017

It was a beautiful day to simply get out and stretch out my leg muscles before the big race the following day. There were a few places I wanted to visit on the eve of the Tokyo Marathon but seeing as how I had made plans to meet up with a group of the Malaysian runners at La Pausa restaurant Harajuku, I decided to just go along with how the weather fared and how I felt.

My aimless wandering led me to a quint coffee place called Fuglen near my AirBnb for some takeaway coffee. The setting was quite cosy, the type of place I would end up spending the whole day at with my laptop if I ever reside in Japan.

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Often the unsung heros of the running world, pacers play a vital role in helping runners achieve their intended targets. Be it breaking that personal best or just finishing within the cut off time, pacers like Karsten are often the faces you look to in times of exhaustion and for inspiration and motivation during a physical and mentally taxing run such as a marathon.

I speak to Karsten Korbel, owner of a Personal Trainer studio in Sri Hartamas and one of the three 3:45 pacers for the Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Marathon (SCKLM).

Monday, March 27, 2017

Running used to be a simple affair. Put on whatever BATA sport shoes your parents deemed as sport shoes and just run, one foot in front of the other at a rapid pace and repeat. Nowadays, the simple BATA shoes don't cut it no more. It is all Nikes, Adidas, Pumas's and Brooks. Shoes specialised with the running tech to make you go faster, longer. However try as you might, at the end of the day, the one who makes the difference is you.

Well aware of this, SCKLM 2017 organisers have pulled together a series of running workshop for its runners. The Standard Chartered KL Marathon Running Clinics are gaining in popularity as more than 300 runners took part in the second round of Running Clinics organised by Dirigo Events, owner and organiser of the premier running event in the country, over the last weekend. There was a Junior Running Clinic on Saturday, 11 March for children between the ages of 6-12, a general clinic for adults on Sunday and even a specialised Running Clinic for those attempting their first Half Marathon.

Friday, March 24, 2017

Day 2 in Tokyo will be broken up into two posts because I believe the race expo deserves a post of its own as do my adventures in Shinjuku and Odaiba. This post covers the Tokyo Marathon 2017 Race Kit collection and Expo which was held at its annual venue at Tokyo Big Sight on Odaiba.

After my morning adventures in Shinjuku, I took the JR Yamanote line which connects to the JR Saikyo line to Odaiba. Upon reaching the Kokusai Tenjijo station, it wasn't hard to figure out which the way to Tokyo Big Sight with so many runners heading in the same direction. On top of that, there were tons of volunteers and signs stationed around to show the way.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Ready to further the fight against animal cruelty and increase awareness around the welfare of the same, Pawse for a Cause is making a comeback, and will grace our shores with a second annual charity carnival this year. Set for 29 July 2017 at Desa ParkCity, the effort seeks to spotlight the plight of strays nationwide, raise funds for pet non-profits, and educate the public on the Animal Welfare Act soon taking effect.

In collaboration with United International Pictures, this celebratory sequel launched in grand fashion today during the premiere of A Dog’s Purpose at MBO Cinema, CITTA Mall. The event was attended by members of the media, event partners, and local celebrities who share a passion for destitute animals.

Monday, March 20, 2017

I had two primary parts of Tokyo to hit on my second day in the capital of Japan for the Tokyo Marathon: 1) Shinjuku to recce the startline and 2) Odaiba to collect my race kit and to see the Gundam statue.

While the temptation to squeeze as much as I could into sightseeing was real, experience have told me that it would be suicide for my legs (and purse) so I planned and prioritised. Luckily my first stop was the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku, an observatory tower that stood at 243 meters and was free of charge to enter.

Sunday, March 19, 2017

1987 was quite a significant year. For starters, I was born and secondly it was the year that McDonald's introduced its eventual classic fan favourite - the Ayam Goreng McD. That would explain my neverending love for their succulent fried chicken.

And now great news for McD fried chicken lovers! You can share your fried chicken with your friends with its new Share boxes!

Friday, March 17, 2017

Since breaking in the Asian market, Spartan Race has seen a lot of love and support from the local fitness and OCR community and this perhaps prompted them to launch their first ever Asia Pacific Championship Series.

The first event of the series will kick off on
the 22nd of April in Hong Kong and end with the fifth event in Australia where the first ever
APAC Champions will be crowned. Racers will be competing for over USD $50,000 (RM221,900) in cash and
prizes across the entire series.
The Asia Pacific Championship series will have 4 qualifying events starting with:

Thursday, March 16, 2017

I had forgotten about the hustle and bustle of Shibuya station or the hordes of people parked around the famous Hachiko statue or just waiting to cross the world's biggest intersection. There I was with my red hardcase luggage staring in awe at the lights and sounds of Shibuya before something at the Hachiko statue caught my eye.

Cat! OMG, you fluffy furball that instantly made me miss my cats at home. It just sat on the pedestal of the statue, nested between the dog's legs as flocks of people stopped to take pictures of it and with it.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

5th March was a sad day for many Gundam fans in Odaiba, Tokyo as it was the last day for them to see the iconic RX-78-2 Gundam before it was dismantled after 5 years of dutifully watching over Diver City.

I myself had made it a point to visit the Gundam Statue on my recent trip to Tokyo and knowing the limited time it had left, spent the evening and night photographing the statue. Even though I never watched the original anime that featured RX-78-2 Gundam, I did watch the Gundam Seed, Gundam Seed Destiny and Gundam 00 in college and did waste a lot of study time, playing Gundam Seed Destiny on my Playstation 2.

Confession: Gundam Strike Freedom and Strike Noir were my favourite to use in combat.

Monday, March 6, 2017

4am is an ungodly hour. Nothing can be a good enough reason to wake up at 4am. Unless...it was to catch flight to Japan! That's right, I was headed off to Japan again. This time for the Tokyo Marathon and I was travelling solo because I felt YOLO.

Anyway flight was at 8am and me being me, opted to catch the first KLIA Express train out at 5am so that I can arrive bright and muddafarking early at the airport to ditch my luggage and get some last minute stuff ie Panadol.

Only to find out that...the shop hasn't open. (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻)
(Walau...why you do this to me la...)

Friday, February 17, 2017

If a Spartan trifecta or even a double trifecta is on your to-do list for 2017, then consider this for the race calendar... One weekend, two days of pure unadulterated obstacle course racing on the beautiful island of Hawaii.

That's right, I am talking about Spartan Trifecta Hawaii Weekend, set to take place on 5-6 August, 2017 at Kualoa Ranch on Oahu Island. Just imagine running all three Spartan Race - Sprint, Super and Beast across the beautiful scenic terrain.

Thursday, February 9, 2017

I am currently entering the tapering stage of my marathon training, I should be toning down on the running and exercises to prevent injuries and overexerting myself. But the fitness junkie in me will not allow that for fear of pilling on the fat. I JUST WANT TO WORK OUT K!

So when I was offered a chance to try out Jonlivia Hotpants - which helps you burn the fat by making you sweat more in a shorter time span, well, turning this down was like saying no to ang pau...or chocolate. (you can see why dieting is a no-go for me)

My pair of Jonlivia Hotpants S+ arrived in a ziplock bag along with the ultra cute hot pink hoodie sports bra, both courtesy of the brand. Tenkiu!

Saturday, February 4, 2017

Starbucks has been known to delight customers in Japan throughout the seasons with a number of tasty and creative Frappuccino releases, but there’s one very special limited-edition range that everyone scrambles to get their hands on every year.

It’s the annual sakuraline of beverages and drinkware, and this year’s offering looks just as gorgeous and delicious as any we’ve ever seen! The new spring range, which goes on sale from 15 February, kicks off with a set of brightly coloured drinkware they’re calling the “Harmony Collection”. The items in this lineup include floral-themed store cards, as well as cherry blossom tumblers, glasses and travel mugs which range in price from 1,500 yen to 4,400 yen (US$13.30 – $39.03).

Thursday, February 2, 2017

And I just got something in my mail today. Good old traditional mail, all the way from Japan! It was my race pack information. In it were several important information for the race kit collection for the Tokyo Marathon 2017 consisting of:
1. Number Card confirmation
2. Start and Finish Map
3. Important info for the race.
4. Health checklist.

Monday, January 30, 2017

It's Chinese New Year and I am already going broke from all the eating and driving around and treating family to makan-mkan. Ang pau? What ang pau? Ooooh, you mean those red packets used to finance all of the above? Gone. Kautim. Habis.

FML.

Like any poor person, online shopping seemed like the best form of therapy and so I started browsing on Lazada to look for the stuff I need for my travelling trips in February. Well, let's just say the need list became a whole lot longer after three solid hours of surfing on Lazada. BUT to summarise it for you, here are five things I really really really really really want from Lazada to aid with my content making on my travels.

So in case, you haven't noticed, I've been less diligent with my training progress report compared to my previous training season for the Kyoto Marathon last year. Mainly because it's the same old same old pace training on a weekly basis. No nervous butterflies, no immediate worries about meeting the cut off times, no newly discovered profound revelation to share about running.

My beloved, not so well-loved Polar M400 has gone off for servicing since its charging port went haywire on me and could not charge or transfer my running data online. I need my running data! Thankfully I could still fall back on my Runkeeper app to help me track my pace. (provided it doesn't go nuts on me)